Officials from federal, state and local emergency management agencies toured Ionia County Friday to continue assessing damage caused by heavy rains and flooding during April and May.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Ionia County Office of Emergency Management started in Lyons in the morning and made their way west across the county, talking with residents and business owners about their losses.

Many residents were not at home Friday morning when the team visited sites where damage was reported. While the team attempts to speak with as many people as possible, it is not necessary to meet with everyone, said Millie Rosa of FEMA, who was part of the group touring Ionia County.

A team of seven stopped in at the Brown Street home of John Barber Sr. in Ionia. Barber lost the new furnace he installed in March to the 4 1/2 to 5 feet of water he said he had in his Michigan basement. His pump was processing 7,000 gallons an hour and couldn't keep up with the flow of water, and it ran for two weeks.

Barber used to carry flood insurance, but he let it lapse after he paid off his house.

"They say there's a flood like this one every hundred years," he said. "I'm hoping this is the one time."

The team mainly looks at essential living spaces, said Eric Berry of FEMA, "because we want to make sure the individual is safe in their living environment, that the home is safe and secure."

Berry said the team also asks residents about areas in the homes where they may have forgotten to look, such as in crawl spaces where items have been stored, so that they get as complete a list of damages as possible for both the city's and the county's compilation.

"We want to be sure they don't find more after we leave," he said, adding that the damage has to be a result of this flood, not previous ones.

Five teams of federal, state and local officials visited west Michigan this week, including the cities of Grand Rapids and Ionia; along with Ionia, Kent, Newaygo and Ottawa counties to begin the Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) process.

The state can request that FEMA conduct the joint PDA with federal, state and local participation to see whether it can support a request for federal disaster relief, said Rosa.

"We're in the first steps in the process right now, just determining the damages," said Rosa. "The data is submitted to the state, then the state will determine if (the total) does go beyond their capabilities. That's when they would request a (disaster) declaration at the presidential level, and also a request for assistance from the Small Business Administration."

Page 2 of 3 - If a request for a federal disaster declaration is approved, FEMA would provide various types of assistance to county residents and businesses. However, Rosa noted, that time is well into the future. There is no hard timeline for this process.

"We are still conducting the preliminary damage assessments, and we do this as expeditiously as possible, but we have to take all the data into consideration," she said. "We will be here as long as necessary to complete the assessment."

Bill Elliott of the MSP said the PDA takes time, partly because it could not begin until the waters receded so that residents, business owners and officials could start to determine the damage. And more damage is being discovered.

"We're now confirming what the locals (officials) had as damage, and we're finding more people," Elliott said. "Someone two doors down may have damage that was not reported. We collect as much information as we can to get an accurate picture. (A total) could be quite a way down the road."

Rosa said the team looks at the property and evaluates the type and scope of damage, the number of homes and small businesses impacted by the water, and whether or not they are insured.

"We're also looking at the communities and the impact, and the community's ability to get back on its feet," she said.

That impact is not just measured in dollars, said Elliott.

"Some damage in some areas might not have the same impact as in another," he said. "There is not a set threshold that has to be met to go for a (federal) declaration. There are a lot of other things that go into the decision."

The teams hope to finish private property assessments by Sunday, Elliott said. Next week, they will return to Ionia and Ionia County, and to the rest of west Michigan, to evaluate public property and infrastructure for assistance, such as public buildings, water systems, roads and bridges.

"It will be the same scenario, but representatives from different agencies," Elliott said. "Next week you will see some of the same people, but more engineering-type people, subject matter experts who can accurately estimate damage. We're all working together to get the most accurate picture we can."

After all the evaluations are complete, and there is a complete picture of the overall damage throughout the state for this disaster, the state police emergency management division will confirm the information FEMA has compiled and the local officials have reported, and determine whether the extent of damage may reach the level for receiving federal assistance. Then the decision will be made by the governor whether to request a presidential disaster declaration. That request will be reviewed by FEMA, which will advise the president whether a disaster declaration should be granted.

Page 3 of 3 - "If it is determined there is enough damage and enough impact that they want to go to the president, then people can make a request for some relief from FEMA," said Elliott. "It's the same thing with the Small Business Administration. It supports people by offering small business loans that are low interest. They can be for homes, as well as small mom and pop businesses, but not for major companies."

Anyone with questions about flood damage may contact Doug Devries, the county's deputy emergency management coordinator, at 616-527-5619 or email him at emd@ioniacounty.org.